KOTHACHERUVU, India – A fire engulfed two coaches of an express train in southern India on Saturday, killing at least 26 passengers, many of whom became trapped and suffocated after the doors failed to open, officials said.

As the inferno and thick black smoke raced through the two cars at about 3:45 a.m., panicked passengers broke the windows and many saved themselves by jumping from the train.

Sixty-seven passengers were in the two cars when the fire broke out about 2 kilometres from the small town of Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh state, said a spokesman for the railways, C.S. Gupta.

The train was brought to a halt and the two coaches were delinked from the rest of the cars to prevent the fire from spreading, Gupta said.